St. Paul daily globe. [volume] (Saint Paul, Minn.) 1884-1896, 1887-12-23
RIDER HAGGARD'S RIVAL.
de Tells a Story Of a Mysterious
Cave.
S0LoMON'S MINES NO. 2
An Attempt to Recover Hidden Treas
ures Will Probably Result in
Broken Necks.

nearly the same direction, it emptieS
into Salt creek. 1t drains portion of
the counties of Hooking and yinton
probably fifteen miles square, and these
225 square miles comprise the hilliest,
rockiest, toughest and hardest place for
man or beast to get enough upon which
to subsist that the broad state of Ohio
can furnish. Near the head of this
stream the water pours over an almost
perpendicular precipiee nearly 200 feet
high, sometimes in sheet forty feet
wide, but in the summer it dwindies
down to a stream that would run
through an inch pipe, but singularly
enough never entirely dries up. The
continual flow of the water and the
great force with which it deseents has
worn basin a hundred feet in diam
eter, deep enough and always containing
float skiff. This small lake, with its
clear water, almost surrounded by high
rocks and steep hills, upon which grow
hemlOck, pine, cedar and dark green
laurel, presents a scene pleasant to look
upon. This place has been Christened
Cedar Falls, says the Logan, o., cor
respondent of the Cincinnati Enquirer.
No strange or weird tales have ever been
told regarding this beautiful place, no
marks supposed to be the handiwOrk of
Iong-departed Indian, and nothing of
an extraordinary nature was ever
known to happen until the summer of
1884, when
A RUMBLING AND A SHAKING
was heard and felt like unto an earth
quake. An investigation showed that
=
of place. Going down the stream five
or six miles one comes to Ash Cave.
This place is like Cedar Falls in a few
respects and unlike it in many. The
chief difference in the formation is that
the high rock projects forward, forming
a large cave. But the unwritten his
tory as told by the present inhabitants
of the neighbOrhoOd is what makes the
place of more than ordinary interest. 1t
was here, according to tradition, that
a brave tribe of Indians long had
its headquarters it was here that
the red devils laid their plans to eXter
inmate the white settlers; it was here
they brought their unfortunate captives
and do the stake for their destruc-
ton, and as the fagOtS blaZed round
their victims they heard their dying
shrieks with strange delight, as though
it were sweet music to their savage ears.
When they were finally overcome by
the too numerous white man and were
driven from their rocky Businesses the
place remained tenantless for awhile"
and then became the rendezvous for a
band of bold. bloody robbers, and some
where in the vicinity they hid their
treasure, large quantity of which, it is
supposed, was never taken away.
When the robbers departed the spirits
of Indian chiefs and murdered white
men and women wandered over the hills
and among the rocks, and many a red
warrior. adorned with paint aud
feathers, carrying a string Of fresh
scalps, and bleeding, scalpless women
have been seen by the belated traveller.
But the ghosts, too, have long since
stolen silently away, and now few
broken dishes, an old cream freezer,
empty beer and whisky bottles, plainly
tell that the merry Fourth of July and
Sunday school picnickers have been the
latest occupants, and when the long
looked-fOr railroad is built up this mar
row valley there will no doubt come the
hotel man. There died near this place
a few months ago Mr.. Snider, who was
supposed to be nearly hundrd years
old. He was genuine half-breed. ae-
cOrding to his own story, and as his
looks would indicate. His father was
captured by the Indians, and,
TO SAVE HIS LIFE,
married one of the dusky virgins of the
forest, and although he became an In
dian good enough for all practical pur
poses, his captors did not have sufficient
confidence in him to impart to him all
their valuable secrets. Twice ayear the
Indians would make pilgrimage some
where among the rocks and hills of
Queer creek and bring back silver and
lead ore. Snider would always be left
at the cave, in which is a large stone
nearly level on top, and in which are
two holes about nine inches in diameter
and two feet deep. These holes, it is
said, were used for smelling purposes,
and there can be no doubt as to the
truth of the statement, for ashes to the
depth of more than ten feet still remain
in the cave. The silver ore was usually
sold to other tribes, but the half-breed
had in his possession when he died
coin which he always maintained was
made from the ore found in that vicin-
ity. The Indian wife was almost as 81
lent as to the location of these mines as
the rest of the tribe. After the country
became settled by the whites she said
that IF the paleface knew as much as
the Indian he could shoe his horse with
silver cheaper than with irOn." A short
time before her death she tried to direct
her son to the spot. He followed her
directions as near as he could, but was
unsuccessful, and many an anxious
fortune seeker has he taken on wild
goose chase since his mothers death.
At another rock fifty feet from the top
of one of the Queer creek tributaries,
and nearly as high as those above men,
toned, is a cave probably twenty feet in
diameter. No effort has ever been
known to have been made to get into
this cave until a few days ago, when a
half-doZen young men went to the top
of the rock and let one of their number
down with rope till he was opposite the
entrance, and by swinging himself he
swung into the cave. Going in few
yards he found
A PERFECTLY ROUND HOLE,
more than foot in diameter, had been
made in the floor. A stone had been
shaped to exactly fit this hole, and this
the youngster could not remove. The
citizens now have their wits hard at
work to devise some means by which
they can get safely in and out this cave,
where they have no doubt an immense
amount of wealth has long been hidden.
which, in their great anxiety to get
possession of, some will take dangerous
chances, and it is not improbable that
before it is reported that the whole
neighborhoOd have become millionaires
some person will have broken his neck.
LASSOED THE BALLET.